Requiem For Innocence
by Amaranth O'Riley
Summary: Drabble series, featuring multiple characters and pairings. Five: He still stares at the moon, sometimes.
1. Sisters

**Author's Note: **Grammatical/Spelling errors corrected-June 21st.

**Sisters**

Sokka was beginning to lose track of time. How long had he been here? Weeks? Months? Or just a few days? All he knew was that he had been taken captive on the twenty-seventh of May, and was now a hostage of the Fire Nation army. He could hear other prisoners wailing from the other sides of the stone walls that surrounded his new 'home'. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't beg for food. Not like the other captives. He was strong.

Had Katara, Aang, and Toph been taken prisoner, too? _No_, Sokka thought, _they only need me as a hostage; they know Aang will come to try to break me out. Once they have him, they won't need me anymore. _He shivered and leaned against a wall. _But will he come? _Aang was busy enough trying to complete his mastering of earth and water, and he still needed to find a firebending master. And with the comet on its way…

_He might not come. I could be here forever._

And it was true. He wasn't needed. Not to fight the Fire Nation. Katara and Toph were help enough. They were benders. He wasn't. Maybe after the war…

_"Psst!"_

His head turned sharply to the side, and he saw a small crack in the wall, one he hadn't before noticed. A faint black shadow swayed on the other side, and he moved forward.

"Hello?" He asked. He feet as if he should say something else; 'hello' sounds far too formal for this place.

"You're the Avatar's friend," the shadow whispered, "I've seen you before."

"Who are you?" Sokka asked, frightened. If he had seen him before, there wasn't much chance of him being a friend. Those who knew him simply as 'the Avatar's friend' weren't usually on good terms with Sokka. Usually, they were enemies.

"It doesn't matter. We're both prisoners, aren't we?"

Sokka nodded, then realized the mysterious shadow couldn't see his slight head bob.

"I guess not."

"So how'd they capture you?"

Sokka sat on the cold stone ground, knees bent. How had he been captured?

_"There's someone coming!" Toph had murmured, causing her three companions to look around, frightened._

_"Who?" Katara had asked._

_"Where?" Sokka had questioned._

_But Aang has asked what was probably the most important question._

_"How many?"_

_Toph had turned then, and the look on her face horrified the other three._

_"A lot."_

_And then they attacked._

_The next half-hour had been filled with confused fighting. Sokka struggled to defeat one firebender, and Katara, Aang, and Toph held off about a dozen soldiers each. When Katara was struck with a burst of flame, Sokka yelled and started towards his sister. And then-_

_Nothing._

"In a fight," he replied, finally, "They captured me when I tried to help my sister."

"What happened to her?"

Although Sokka wasn't usually comfortable with confiding in strangers, it helped him to forget the fact that he was imprisoned.

"She was attacked by a Fire Nation soldier. I think…" he paused to wipe a tear from his eye, "I think she might be seriously hurt."

"She can heal, can't she?"

"I don't know…There have been things she couldn't fix before. Like when Toph broke her arm a few weeks ago. She couldn't fix her. It's only really minor things she can do right now."

"I guess she isn't as skilled as I thought, then."

Sokka jumped to his feet.

"My sister is a great bender! She's a water-bending Master! If you even knew-"

"Calm down! I didn't mean it like that…I just-never mind."

Both inmates paused. Finally, the stranger spoke again.

"You're not a bender, are you?"

"No," Sokka said, with a slight twinge of self-pity.

"But your sister is."

"One of the best water-benders alive."

"And the blind girl?"

"Toph. She's an earth-bending master."

"And the Avatar, obviously."

"Yeah? What's your point?" Sokka was beginning to get annoyed with this strangers cryptic speaking.

"So you're the only non-bender in your group then. What's that like?"

"What do you think it's like?" Sokka yelled. A guard walked by and glared, and Sokka dropped his voice a few levels.

"You know Aang is technically only twelve years old? And he's going to save the world someday. He's already mastered air-bending, and is very close to mastering water and earth. Toph, well, I'm not sure exactly how old she is, but she can't be more than eleven or twelve, and she's probably one of the world's best earth-benders. She's also the only person in the world who can bend metal, that we know of. My sister, Katara, is fourteen years old, and, as far as I know, the world's best water-bender. A few weeks ago, we met back up with her old master, and she beat him in a fight in less than twenty seconds.

They're all master benders, and all of them are going to fight in the war against the Fire Nation. Everybody idolizes them."

He took a moment to catch his breath.

"Honestly, I think I just get in their way most of the time. The only reason I still travel with them is because Katara's my baby sister, and my father instructed me to protect her. I can't bend, I'm a mediocre warrior, and they don't need me. My _baby sister_ is a better warrior than me. She'll help save the world someday. She'll be a hero, and I'll just be…the stupid, klutzy, boomerang-guy."

Sokka paused to throw his boomerang across the cell. In true Sokka fashion, he threw it too hard, and it came back to (literally) hit him in the head.

"See!?" he exclaimed, rubbing the red spot on his forehead, "I can't even do that right!"

There was a slight lull in the conversation as Sokka sat silently, hating himself for being such an untalented, normal---thing.

"I know how you feel." The stranger said quietly.

"What, you travel with the Avatar, too?" Sokka said sarcastically.

"No." Apparently this guy didn't get the whole 'sarcasm' thing, "I mean about your sister."

Sokka was interested now.

"Let's just say that my sister is a very talented bender, too. She's probably one of the best in the world, too, and isn't too modest about it. My father loved my sister because of her bending, and never let me forget the fact that I was worth less than she was, because I didn't share her 'wonderful' ability. I can bend, too, but I'm not near to her level. You have it better though, in my opinion."

"What d'you mean?"

"The benders you know are nice. I've seen the Avatar and your sister try to help people that had attempted to hurt them before. And you didn't say anything about being mocked for being inferior to them."

"They've never mocked me," Sokka replied, "Well, Toph has, but she makes fun of everyone."

"See, my sister brags all the time about being a better bender than me. She's challenged me just to laugh at my failure. Even as a child, she would think of herself as superior just because she was more skilled."

Sokka waited for more, but the stranger remained silent.

"So I guess we're in the same boat, then, huh?"

He could hear a faint chuckle from the stranger.

"Guess so. Both always been inferior to our baby sisters, both trying to fight for respect and honor…"

"And both trapped in a Fire Nation prison, don't forget that!"

"Yeah, that too."

"So," Sokka said, "What did you say your name was again?"

"I didn't."

"Well what _is_ your name?"

There was a short pause.

"Lee."

"I'm Sokka."

"Nice to meet you, Sokka.


	2. Madness

**A/N: **I wrote this while in one of my strange moods. So it's extremely random, but I think it fits the character. Sorry I didn't get it up as soon as I said I would, I never seem to stay with deadlines. I'll probably get another one up today or tomorrow, however. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I have a hard enough time coming up with ideas for fanfiction. Do you really think I'd be able to create such a great show as Avatar?

-.-

_No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness._

Bumi was mad. Oh yes, mad. Not angry mad. Just mad. Insane. Crazy. Wild. Barmy. Nutty.

Nutty. He could go for some nuts right about now. Few people understood the true magnificence of nuts. They were perfect. Perfect shape, perfect feel, and just the right amount of crunchiness. Yes, nuts were perfect.

He had been told many times that his madness could easily get in the way of his ruling. His_ king_ duties. He had been told that he should abdicate, leave the responsibility to someone more deserving.

But he wouldn't.

Because, despite the fact that he was mad, he was a _good_ ruler.

_His_ was the last place to surrender to the Fire Nation.

So he couldn't be that bad of a leader, could he?

Yes, Bumi was a good leader. And mad. The two seemed to work well together.

And as Bumi crunched on a handful of scrumptious walnuts and cashews, he smiled to himself.

_No great __**leader**__ has ever existed without some touch of madness…_


	3. New

A/N: Wow. I'm quite uncreative with titles lately. Anyways, this is a oneshot that I've been working on for quite a while. Like first/second episode-ish. Enjoy!

Oh, by the way, this is set like five/six years after Sozen's comet. And Kahna (gran-gran) is dead. (Of old age)

**New**

The timing was terrible. It had only been two weeks since Azula escaped from prison, two weeks since she had gotten her revenge, two weeks since she had murdered Aang. The world was still in mourning, Katara was still weeping over her fiancée's grave, and now (_now_, of all times!) Suki was in labor with her child, with _Sokka's_ child. And to make matters worse, they were in the South Pole, one of the least populated places in the world. Few of the women here knew how to safely deliver a baby.

Yes, the universe was cruel.

Sokka shivered as he ran across the frozen terrain.

"Katara!" He yelled. "Katara!"

He stumbled, falling face first into hard ice.

"What?"

Sokka looked up into his sisters' face. Tears had frozen halfway down her cheeks, and she looked as if she _really_ didn't want to be bothered with anything her brother had to say.

"Suki!" He gasped, attempting to pull himself back into a standing position, "It's time!"

Without further questioning, Katara took off towards the central, newly-constructed ice palace, Sokka staggering after her. When they reached Suki's room, Katara immediately took charge.

"Sokka, Melt some snow in a bucket and bring it here! Dad, we'll need blankets, as many as you can carry. Tashi, Lin, help me with Suki."

The room sprang into order. Sokka scraped ice off the floor, Hakoda and a dozen other men hunted for blankets, and Katara, along with two Kyoshi warriors, urged Suki to breathe deeply and push, for the love of Tui and La, push!

And then it was over.

Suki stopped screaming, Katara stopped ordering, and the sound of a baby's high-pitched crying filled the room. Sokka stood in the doorway, staring at his child in awe, until Katara grabbed the water bucket from his hand and gently wiped off the newborn.

"Is that _mine_?" Sokka asked, still staring proudly at the new addition to the family.

"It's _ours_." Suki corrected, taking the child from Katara's hands.

"Is it a boy or girl?"

Katara giggled at her brother's question.

"She's a girl, Sokka."

And still, Sokka could barely speak. "Wow."

Hakoda smiled as he wrapped a blanket around his granddaughter.

"So what's her name?"

Suki glanced up at Sokka.

"Well, we thought about it…and we decided that if it was a girl, we'd name her Kahna." Suki turned to Hakoda and Katara, as if asking for their permission.

"Kahna," Katara repeated, stroking her niece's forehead, "is the perfect name."

.-.-.-.-.-.

**A/N: **Eh. I liked this better in my head. There WILL be another part to this, but it won't be up until chapter 10-ish.

Reviews??


	4. Apathy

Apathy

**Apathy**

To the unknowing passerby, Mai appeared bored, as usual. She had perfected the mask of uncaring disinterest long ago, after endless parties and court events, after countless reprimands from both Mother and Father to show no interest or love for anything beyond her future husband and children, after a lifetime of revulsion for the world around her. Nothing interested her anymore, not since Zuko left her.

He had left a note. A note, nothing else. It was her own fault. She had gone against everything she had ever known; she had _cared_ too much. She ad let herself become too attached to Zuko. She had fallen in love.

But she had learned now. She knew better than to ever let this happen again. Even if Zuko came back, even if he went down on his knees and apologized to her for breaking her heart, she would never again let herself care that much. She knew better.

Mai wiped a single tear from her face and shook her head. To the unknowing passerby, she appeared bored. In reality, her heart was broken.


	5. Selene

Selēnē

She catches him looking up at the moon, tonight. He remains unaware of her presence. She stands silently, watches as he tilts his neck upward and looks. At _her_. And she thinks.

Sometimes, when he looks into her eyes, he appears to be searching for something. Perhaps ocean-blue eyes in her own dull brown ones. When he combs his fingers through her hair as they lay in bed together, she wonders if he imagines white tresses instead of her straight red mane. And when he kisses her lips tenderly, does he think of another?

She is reluctant to ask. After five years, it still remains a sore subject for him. He had only known her for a few days, but he had obviously fallen hard. Truthfully, she didn't want to know. She could be content pretending that his heart belonged to only her. She touches her betrothal necklace gingerly, and gazes at the moon with him.

When their daughter is born, three months early and tiny—far too tiny, their small village does everything possible to save her. Neighbors bring medicinal herbs, the healers stay at her side for hours, but nothing works. She won't live through the week, they are told.

In the dead of the night, when he thinks she is asleep, he picks up the newborn and carries her outside. She slips from beneath her blanket and follows. He walks to the shore, where the narrow strip of ice meets the ocean, and places the baby in the shallow waters. She doesn't stir. His lips move, and he gazes at the moon again. She sees a single silver tear slide down his face, and the baby cries for the first time.

When he returns, he gently slips his daughter back into her arms. She opens her eyes slightly. Her daughter breathes evenly, and sleeps peacefully. Her hair is white.

He still gazes at the moon, sometimes. But when he turns to her and to their daughter, the love on his face is true. She does not doubt anymore. And when she bears three more children, completely healthy, she knows that they are being looked after lovingly. He has been given permission to move on.


End file.
